I was wondering the other day if a Re-boot of the series per-se might work...

I would love to see a reboot if they went back to the original plan of Sinclair being the one and only 'The One', who
survives all the events of the series. But I'm porbably in the minority there!

Not at all. It would have been interesting if the series had been able to unfold the way JMS originally envisioned.

But didn't JMS claim that he's always have needed a character like Sheridan, even if Sinclair had been available for the entire serie's run? It certainly seems that the perfect end of the series would be the return to/of Valen, but is that actually a known fact (that it was written to be the last episode in the series)?

But didn't JMS claim that he's always have needed a character like Sheridan, even if Sinclair had been available for the entire serie's run? It certainly seems that the perfect end of the series would be the return to/of Valen, but is that actually a known fact (that it was written to be the last episode in the series)?

Each Babylon station would need its own captain. I believe the original idea was for B4 to be brought forward in time.

Oh, is that how it was going to be, before plans had to change? So Sinclair's departure would have happened while Sherridan was handling the more direct fighting? And as the war ended, he'd go back in time at that point?

In the memo published in Volume 15 of the script books, there's no mention of Sinclair becoming Valen at all. It was very early in the process, written between 'The Gathering' and the beginning of filming Season 1.

Jan

__________________
"You know, I used to think that life was terribly unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair? If all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe." ~~Marcus Cole

But didn't JMS claim that he's always have needed a character like Sheridan, even if Sinclair had been available for the entire serie's run?

Sort of. What he said was:

Quote:

Originally Posted by jms

Sheridan, or more specifically the need for someone *like* Sheridan began to get through clearly toward the latter part of [season one], as I began planning out season two's progression, and kept looking at elements of the story and trying to find ways to get Sinclair into the heart of them. They felt contrived, for the most part;
...
[I have to] bring in someone who has a direct, personal connection with the storyline emerging in season two, so it's not contrived or forced.

and

Quote:

Originally Posted by jms

Sheridan, or someone like him, would've been brought in around this time regardless, yes...but knowing this would happen, I was able to skew the new character to have the elements, and be in the position, that would most help me move the story along.

So what I think he was referring to was there was always going to be a character connected to the Shadows, but moving Sinclair off the board allowed him to make the Captain of Bablyon 5 have that connection without making every single plot point run through Sinclair. Note this interesting line of character description about Sinclair from the treatment:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Treatment dated September 1st, 1988

Commander Sinclair is quite attractive, a man widowed some years ago. He doesn't talk about it.
....
one sometimes gets the impression that he has never quite gotten over the loss of his wife.

That is fascinating, thank you for posting Jan and JoeD. Yes, that may give a glimpse at what may have been closer to the original vision of the series?

I do also understand that no one goes into a pilot for a series with the entire thing figured out in detail, obviously life would make that almost impossible to produce. But it sounds as if Sinclair was going to be one heck of a busy character.

I actually have to say I think it worked out the better way. But it must be fascinating for young authors to see a bit of how this idea progressed until it became the B5 we all know.

As likely as not, he might just say "I bought B5 from Warners, I now own it completely, and it's done. Thank you very much for coming out, don't forget to tip your waitresses." I mean, we have *NOTHING* to go on.

Assuming he *IS* planning on more B5, though, it'll be interesting to see how much of the allegedly-canonical books he intends to stick with. I can't imagine him holding of of a particular story or plot because it contradicts something J. Gregory Keys wrote, or whatever. Likewise, I have no trouble imagining him jettisoning everything he did from 1999-present on film as well.

The objections Warners had to a movie are still basically valid, but unpleasant, so I'm thinking that's not it. A miniseries? That might be a good way to go.

Actually, I wonder if he might just sign the whole thing over to some new show runner and writers, and stay on board merely as quality control. That might be the way to go, really. Veto power pays just as well, and involves a lot less work.

Actually, I wonder if he might just sign the whole thing over to some new show runner and writers, and stay on board merely as quality control. That might be the way to go, really.

I can't imagine Joe taking any job where he was just approving stuff and not writing. All he does is write. The man can't not write. He mentioned before in interviews how when he went on his one vacation and his wife told him to take a break from writing that he ended up buying a spiral notebook two days in and spent time outlining a new novel every time he had a chance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Republibot 3.0

Veto power pays just as well, and involves a lot less work.

I think this probably depends on how good your agent is. Script fees are separate from the salary though, so if you're writing scripts you're going to be making more than if you're not.

Actually, I wonder if he might just sign the whole thing over to some new show runner and writers, and stay on board merely as quality control. That might be the way to go, really.

I can't imagine Joe taking any job where he was just approving stuff and not writing. All he does is write. The man can't not write. He mentioned before in interviews how when he went on his one vacation and his wife told him to take a break from writing that he ended up buying a spiral notebook two days in and spent time outlining a new novel every time he had a chance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Republibot 3.0

Veto power pays just as well, and involves a lot less work.

I think this probably depends on how good your agent is. Script fees are separate from the salary though, so if you're writing scripts you're going to be making more than if you're not.

Well, he's always said that he ended up writing more of the shows than he really wanted to, that he had no intention of writing 97 episodes or whatever, but it just kind of got away from him. I could see him just assigning tasks to writers he trusted. "You, David, I need this, this and this to happen. Write a script" "Sure thing, boss!"

(I wonder if there's some kind of syndrome that he and Stephen King have? Scribophilia? Calustrophilia? Stylophilia? <G>)

But now that everyone is pretty sure it's a 20th anniversary movie, I find I've got my stupid hopes up again.